SIGN IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO HAVE ACCESS TO DIFFERENT FEATURES

FORGOT YOUR PASSWORD?

FORGOT YOUR DETAILS?

AAH, WAIT, I REMEMBER NOW!

Sidelines MagazineSidelines Magazine

  • LOGIN
  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Subscriptions
    • Flipbook
    • Subscribe Options
    • Order Individual & Back Issues
  • Podcast
  • Marketplace
    • Business Ads
    • Directories
      • Barns, Farms, Trainers & Clubs
      • Equestrian Services
      • Real Estate
      • Stallions
      • Tack & Feed Stores
    • Classifieds
    • Horse Trailers for Sale
  • Advertise
  • Blogs
    • Show World
    • What’s Happenin’
  • Partners
  • Contacts
    • Contacts
    • Employment
0
Monday, January 26 2015 / Published in Weekly Feature

The Glamour and Thrill of High Goal Season

Kerstie on the sideline helping support her team. Photo by Sheryel Aschfort, The Polo Paparazzi

Kerstie on the sideline helping support her team.
Photo by Sheryel Aschfort, The Polo Paparazzi

By Kerstie Allen

High-goal polo season is upon us and all the beautiful ponies have arrived. The finest and most prestigious polo season in the United States is underway at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida. All the glamour of Palm Beach combined with the perfect weather and the coming together of all the best polo players from around the globe makes for a pretty amazing experience.

If it’s anything like last year, words can’t describe how excited I am to be able to experience this one more time. I’m also excited to reunite with all my different polo families again and catch up with how everyone’s game, ponies and life in general have been going.

Last year I was lucky enough to play in the 20- and 26-goal polo tournaments among the best players in the world. Polo is unlike any other equestrian event. Each high goal game has approximately 100 horses at each game, including playing, spare and umpire ponies. This involves a team of people and equipment like a traveling circus. Each team is assigned a corner of the field where they set up a team tent somewhat like a pit at a NASCAR race. We usually have a team manager, several grooms to tack and untack the horses, spare horse holders that stand at each end of the field enabling us to change mounts and replace broken mallets during the game, and horse walkers to warm up and cool the ponies during the game. Friends, family, fitness trainers, vets and farriers also stay close to assist in the many needs.

Some teams have traveled from all parts of the world together, while other teams come together just for the winter season. Only in polo can you truly maximize your equestrian talents in one game. Here we aren’t limited by the ability of our single equine mount, but we have the freedom to change, double and ride as many horses as we feel necessary in a single game.

High goal polo in America consists of six seven-minute chukkers (similar to quarters in a football game). At the end of each chukker, we’re given time to change mounts, adjust equipment and grab a quick drink of water, then right back to the next chukker. In less than a second, we literally fly from horseback to horseback never touching the ground and have to adjust to our new steeds. As you all know, no two horses are alike; each one has its own unique style, gait, ability and quirks. There have been many games I’ve played in where I’ve ridden a horse for the first time ever and had to go out and play against the best in the world riding horses they know like the back of their hand. Call me odd but that’s half the fun of it!

Pretty in pink with the Crab Orchard team at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida. Photos by Sheryel Aschfort, The Polo Paparazzi.

Pretty in pink with the Crab Orchard team at the International Polo Club in Wellington, Florida.
Photos by Sheryel Aschfort, The Polo Paparazzi.

Polo mallet shafts are made of a special kind of cane called manau, and the heads are made from wood cut from a tipa tree, which is found only in northern Argentina and parts of Brazil and Paraguay. They come in different lengths to help compensate for different horses’ sizes. In spite of that, it still takes a second or two to adjust. The ball is only 3 inches or so and the mallet head is only an inch and a half wide, so running at a full gallop and hitting this little bouncing ball is challenging to say the least.

Polo ponies love the sport as much as we do. They read the plays, follow the ball and pin their ears ready to go to battle for you. The good ones will take you to goal and can make you a star. Polo ponies can be any breed and being pretty or fancy isn’t a factor like it is in most show rings. Shaved manes and trimmed tails make for a warhorse appearance. The bulk of all polo ponies aren’t even registered, as they’re commonly a mix breed of Thoroughbred, Quarter Horse and the Argentine Criollo.

Sundays are my favorite day of the week for more reasons than just being able to play in the stadium on the main polo field. It also means that the following day is Monday, the “equestrian day of rest.” After a long week of scheduled games, practices and endless hours of preparation, there is one more endless chukker to be played in the pasture. As I turn my team of ponies loose, they run and play like they’re on the polo field, galloping, riding each other off as they spin and compete as if it’s the U.S. or Argentine Open playoffs. I could sit and watch them play for hours. Dripping in halters instead of diamonds, I’m glad God created the horse.

And speaking of diamonds … whoever said that diamonds are a girl’s best friend never owned a horse.

 

About the writer: Kerstie Allen is a native of Melbourne, Australia. Her passion for horses has taken her on a worldwide adventure exploring and mastering nearly every discipline in the equestrian world and opening doors of opportunity for women everywhere. Follow Kerstie’s adventures at: Twitter: @kerstiea; Facebook fan page: kerstie allen; and Instagram: allenkerstie.

 

Share this page:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
Tagged under: international polo club, kerstie-allen, passion-for-polo, polo pony, sidelines-magazine, wellington

What you can read next

Mattias Tromp: Embracing His Family’s Passion
A Letter to My Younger Self
Lee Cesery: A Legacy of Love

Download Sidelines Digital now from your favorite app store!

Sidelines Magazine - Apple store   Sidelines Magazine - Google Play store   Sidelines Magazine - Amazon store
Update iOS app. Re-download Google Play and Amazon app.

Follow on Instagram!

sidelines_magazine

Sidelines Magazine
Let Alexander Academic Access guide you on your jo Let Alexander Academic Access guide you on your journey to the college of your dreams! Alexander Academic Access opens doors to higher education with personalized services, provided by highly qualified college admissions experts. Check out our website AlexanderAcademics.com or call us at (636) 566-5959 to learn more about our approach to the college application process, including our exclusive campus visit travel concierge service. *Mention this post for 50% off an initial consultation or 5% off a full package. *WE WILL BE HOSTING BREAKFST AT THE REGION 10 MACLAY REGIONALS THIS SUNDAY IN WELLINGTON, FLORIDA. Please come visit us and enjoy the food. Best of luck to all the competitors! #collegecounseling #studentathletes Alexander Academic Access
Unbridled with Joe Norick! 🐎 Joe Norick stays Unbridled with Joe Norick! 🐎 Joe Norick stays busy with not one but two full-time jobs with companies that span the nation. The first is as a senior vice president for equine, farm and ranch clients with Alliant in West Palm Beach; the second, which he took on in October of 2022, is as the chief customer officer for HITS Shows. But Joe doesn’t care about titles. “I more consider myself the architect of what we’re creating here in the new HITS,” he said. Along with CEO Peter Englehart, Joe oversees all HITS Shows across the country—which is why he says lately it feels as though his home base has been American Airlines, traveling to each of the six unique HITS venues. “I love the fact that in Ocala we have so many beautiful paddocks, and over 500 acres that you can ride on and the horse can be a horse, and a horseman can be a horseman,” Joe said. “I love the beauty and charm that we have at our Chicago facility. I love the family aspect of Vermont. I love the high level of competition we have at both Del Mar and Saugerties, which we now call HITS Hudson Valley because of the amazing Hudson Valley. I love the tradition that we have in Virginia at our Culpepper facility. They all have something special.” Get to know Joe in this month's edition of Sidelines Magazine! and never miss an unbridled by subscribing for just $14.95 A YEAR! Link in bio! 📸Photo by ESI
Growing up, Zayna Rizvi put fashion ahead of funct Growing up, Zayna Rizvi put fashion ahead of function when it came to her riding attire. “I would only ride my first pony, Buttons, in a princess outfit. I refused to wear regular riding clothes and only wanted to ride in my tutu,” she said. The 2021 Maclay Finals winner has since shed her tutu and these days can be found sporting breeches and boots as she tackles the jumper ring in the High Juniors, U25 series, the FEI classes in the two-star and three-star divisions and occasionally makes her way back into some equitation classes. Immersed in the equestrian life from the start, Zayna can be found, if she isn’t doing schoolwork, in the barn trying to refine her riding as she aims to move up the ranks in international competitions. To read more about Zayna head on over to our website. Link in bio! 📸Portraits by Melissa Fuller
Check out Biostar US for innovative supplements to Check out Biostar US for innovative supplements to support your horse’s gut health! With specific plants found in old English hedgerows, Hedgerow GI supports GI tract homeostasis, microbes, immune cells, metabolites, and the tight junctions of the gut. This exclusive blend provides dimensional support for gut homeostasis. ⏩Link: https://www.biostarus.com/products/hedgerow-gi #biostarus #wholefoodforhorses #horses #equestrians #horsecare #equinehealth #hedgerowgi #hedgerows #horseguthealth #horsesupplements
Load More... Follow on Instagram

From Our Classifieds Ads

  • LADY JEAN RANCH, INC.
    Fifty Rideable Acres Covered Arena with Mirrors Boarding Annual & Seasonal 10333 Randolph Siding Road Jupiter, FL 33478 561-745-1300 www.ljrelite.com

    [Read more]

  • Old Spring Manor
    ponies for sale pony sales pony breaking pony training #welshpony #youngponies #hunterponies

    [Read more]

Sidelines Articles by Email

Subscribe to Sidelines Magazine Articles by Email

RSS Sidelines Blogs: What’s Happenin’

  • Woodside Recognizes the Best in the West
  • Get More for Your Money with an Adjustable-Rate Mortgage
  • Longines Global Champions Tour of New York Returns to Governors Island

RSS Sidelines Blogs: Show World

  • Conor Swail Was the Best Bet in $15,000 CSI2* Markel Insurance Welcome at San Juan Capistrano International
  • Lillie Keenan Leads in CHF68,000 South Coast Plaza Welcome Speed at San Juan Capistrano International CSIO5*
  • McLain Ward Wins CSIO5* Longines Grand Prix at San Juan Capistrano International

Category

Recent Posts

  • Zayna Rizvi: Horses from Family to Finals

    By Laura Scaletti Portraits by Melissa Fuller &...
  • Samantha Wolfram: Finding Success in America and Overseas

    By Juliana Chapman Portraits by Kirsten Hannah ...
  • Cedar Potts-Warner: At Liberty and Beyond

    Story and Portraits by Jennifer DeMaro   P...
  • Jordan Melfi: Turning a Secret Horse Life Into a Career

    By Veronica Green-Gott Portraits by Shelly Cart...
  • Olivia Williams: From University of Notre Dame to European Dreamin’

    By Veronica Green-Gott Portraits by Melissa Ful...

Copyright © 1987 - 2021 Sidelines Magazine
Privacy Policy · Returns & Refunds Policy · Hosting by Lucian Web Service
· Login

TOP
Get the Sidelines Scoop — your weekly look behind the scenes.Sign me up!